1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for connecting to a device in a wireless terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for more conveniently connecting to a desired device in a communication mode of a wireless terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wi-Fi Peer to Peer (Wi-Fi P2P) or Wi-Fi Direct technology is technology for providing a direct connection between Wi-Fi terminals by using an existing Wi-Fi interface without having to communicate with an Access Point (AP) that is an existing medium in infrastructure networks.
The existing Wi-Fi technology generally relates to a connection to the Internet through an AP. Accordingly, there has been a lack of development to Wi-Fi technology as it relates to direct communication between Wi-Fi terminals.
This lack has been somewhat supplemented through the use of Bluetooth technology. However, Bluetooth technology has certain limitations associated with a transmission distance and a transmission speed. Consequently, Wi-Fi P2P technology is expected to cover the portion of communication between terminals that Bluetooth does not supplement.
Although the existing Wi-Fi technology also supports a direct connection in an Ad-hoc mode, the Ad-hoc technology has not been effectively commercialized. In other words, the Ad-hoc technology has rarely been used in practice due to various disadvantages associated with the Ad-hoc technology. For example, disadvantages associated with the Ad-hoc technology include vulnerability in security, power consumption, and limited transmission speeds (e.g., throughput traffic being limited to 11 Mbps).
The Wi-Fi Direct technology supplements vulnerability in security by supporting a security mode of Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) and supports simpler connectivity between Wi-Fi terminals than before by using a Wi-Fi Simple Configuration (WSC). In addition, the Wi-Fi Direct technology drastically improves throughput compared with the Ad-hoc technology by supporting wireless networking standard IEEE 802.11n and by using an enhanced power consumption algorithm.
A Wi-Fi Direct function is based on IEEE 802.11, legacy Wi-Fi standards, is compatible with existing Wi-Fi terminals, and can be easily upgraded without a change in hardware.
A Peer to Peer (P2P) group indicates a set of Wi-Fi terminals connected to each other by using the Wi-Fi P2P technology. Assuming that devices are connected on a one-to-one basis, one device operates as a Group Owner (GO) and the other device operates as a Group Client (GC). In this case, the GO terminal functions as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) AP and the GC terminal functions as a WLAN station.
Such a role of each P2P terminal is determined by using a P2P-only protocol, (i.e., GO Negotiation, in a Wi-Fi P2P connection process).
The generation of a P2P group based on the Wi-Fi P2P technology can be achieved by a 1:1 connection or a 1:N connection, and the number of acceptable GCs is determined based on the capability of a GO terminal.
In a Wi-Fi P2P connection process, devices are searched for through a Device Discovery process, and a Provision Discovery process is performed with a device desiring connection from among the searched devices.
The Provision Discovery process is a process of informing the device desiring connection of a connecting method, and a Web Service Connector (WSC) connection method includes a Push Button Configuration (PBC) method performed in response to a button input and a Personal Identification Number (PIN) method performed in response to a PIN number input.
Accordingly, a device which requests Provision Discovery transmits a message associated with a desired connection method. A device which has received the message corresponding to another device's request for Provision Discovery informs a user thereof of the message reception through a pop-up window.
The pop-up window displayed in response to receipt of a message corresponding to another device's request for Provision Discovery contains information, such as a device name of the device which has requested Provision Discovery. The pop-up window allows the user of the device which has received the message to determine whether the connection is accepted and whether to enable a WSC.
After the Provision Discovery process, a GO Negotiation process is performed to determine roles of the devices. A device determined to be a GO operates as an AP, and a device determined to be a GC operates as a Wi-Fi station.
When the device roles, GO and GC, are determined, the two devices complete a P2P connection by exchanging authentication information, such as authentication type, encryption type, network key, and Service Set identifier (SSID), through a Provisioning process.
However, every time connection to a device is performed through the Wi-Fi P2P connection process, a desired device should be selected through the Device Discovery process, and the above-described connection processes should be performed. In addition, when no desired device is discovered in the Device Discovery process, it is inefficient and burdensome to repeatedly perform the Device Discovery process until a desired device is discovered.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for connecting to a device in a wireless terminal to conveniently perform a Wi-Fi Direct connection while exchanging device information for a communication connection to a desired device through near distance communication of the wireless terminal.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.